British and French interior ministers agreed on Tuesday to develop cooperation “now and when the United Kingdom leaves the EU” to address challenges posed by flows of migrants to the European Union.
Britain’s new interior minister, Amber Rudd, came to Paris to meet her French counterpart, seeking assurances on a deal which allows Britain to make border checks in Calais and keep thousands of would-be migrants and asylum seekers in France.
The meeting came days after French presidential contender Nicolas Sarkozy said Britain should deal on its own territory with migrants camped in the northern town, joining similar calls by Alain Juppe, also a conservative presidential candidate.
Officials say there are about 7,000 migrants sprawled across the area known as the “Jungle” north of Calais, with the aim of many to reach Britain illegally through the Channel Tunnel. Non-governmental organizations put the number at over 9,000.
“We are committed to working together to strengthen the security of our shared border, to strongly diminish the migratory pressure in Calais and preserve the vital economic link supported by the juxtaposed controls in Calais,” Rudd and her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement.
“We pledge that this co-operation must and will be developed, now and after the United Kingdom leaves the EU,” they added.
Some French and British officials, including then Prime Minister David Cameron, had warned Britain that the Anglo-French Le Touquet agreement could be harmed if the country voted to leave the European Union at a referendum on June 23.
Sarkozy’s comments chimed with Xavier Bertrand, the region’s head, who said France should scrap the agreement unless British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to renegotiate the system agreed under the accord, which allows British officials to check passports in France.

Italy rescues 6,500
Some 6,500 migrants were saved off the Libyan coast in 40 separate rescue missions on Monday, the Italian coast guard said on Twitter, in one of the largest influxes of refugees in a single day so far this year.
The migrants were packed on board scores of boats, many of them flimsy rubber dinghies that become dangerously unstable in high seas. Most were believed to be Africans.

Data from the International Organization for Migration released on Friday said around 105,000 migrants had reached Italy by boat so far in 2016, many of them setting sail from Libya. An estimated 2,726 men, women and children have died over the same period trying to make the journey.
About 1,100 migrants were rescued from boats in the Strait of Sicily on Sunday as they tried to reach Europe, the coast guard said. More refugees were expected to set sail this week because of favorable weather conditions.

Source: Arab News